I could hardly believe it - we were finally in the actual Dagoth Ur citadel.

"So, we're now in the belly of the beast?" asked Laurenna, trying to maintain her sense of humor.

"Actually, more like the nose of the beast." I replied, trying to help maintain the humor that would help us dive into this den of evil.

As I went down the stairs, I could hear a voice. I wasn't sure if it was aloud or in my head.

"Come, Nerevar, friend or traitor, come. Come look upon the heart in Akulakan. And bring Wraithguard. I have need of it."

Advising Laurenna to stay behind me, I went down the stairs, turned another corner, where I found a lame corpus victim trying to figure out how to work the door.  Poor thing.

A spell of poison bloom knocked him out quickly.

He fell to the floor as hard as a sack of dead rats.

We opened the door and checked inside. There was a lava pit inside, with a number of pipes picking up the hot gasses that worked the machinery in here.

It was dark, so Laurenna brought out a torch.

We could hear machines running, levers turning, things clanking in the dark.

"Come to the heart chamber.  I wait for you there, where we last met, countless ages ago."

I really didn't like him taunting me like that, distracting me.

And just around the corner, an ash zombie thingy, poised, and ready to strike!

I stepped to the right, hearing Laurenna put out her trusty bow. I didn't want to be in the line of fire.

Laurenna hit him with a few of the Daedric paralyzing arrows I had given her, freezing the evil thingy in it's tracks. A spell of the Spider's Kiss from me put the thing on the floor, and out of commission permanently.

Around the corner, another Dagoth awaited us, spitting poison in our general direction.

I absorbed it's poison spell, and used that power to make a return spell of my own.

Without using any "restore magicka" potions, the Dagoth granted me more than enough power to send him a spell of God's Frost.

It took a second frost spell to finish him off, but I'd imagine the creature probably regretted giving me the power to do him in.

Down more stairs, and we met yet another Dagoth long-nose.

This one would not give up without a fight.

I summoned several creatures, and they did a pretty good job of beating the stuffing out of him. Laurenna helped a bit with some sunburst arrows, but I was too close, and some of the blast radius began to chew away at my own life.

Lucky for me I had plenty of potions to restore my own health.

We checked out the chamber we were in. Lots of steam-powered machines doing....something.

Suddenly, I noticed something in the corner, near the outbound hallway from the chamber.

It was the body of a fallen hero. Plenty of armor and a good weapon, but it looked like it didn't get him very far in this den of evil.

Suddenly, him again.

"Come to me through fire and war. I welcome you."

I'm sure he meant it, too.

Yet another chamber, a huge pool of lava to the right and an ash slave to the left.

A hit from the Rings of Leaches left him as lifeless as Dagon Fel on a Monday night.

The huge, mis-shapened form lumbered at me, obviously starved for affection (or food, I wasn't sure which).

I decided to give him a warm welcome via God's Fire, finishing off his tortured life.

Another chamber, another ascended sleeper, this one guarding three doors.

I started to cast a spell, when suddenly, I hear Laurenna shout "You will die where you stand!!!"

Well, I admit, I had been having all the fun so far, so I decided to let her show this sleeper her shiny, new sword...several times.

The sleeper never stood a chance.

Remind me never to get her angry at me. :)